Spokane Wildfires Force 60,000 Out - 600+ Structures Gone, Zero Containment

Spokane is used to dry summers. Not this.

The Spokane Complex - Old Trails, Fairview, and Meadowview / Autumn Lane depending on the briefing - tore through eastern Washington over the weekend. Authorities say roughly 60,000 people evacuated in and around the state’s second-largest city. At least 600 homes, businesses, and other structures are gone. Some local tallies push past 640 for Old Trails alone. Containment on the complex: 0%.

Mayor Lisa Brown called it the worst natural disaster the region has faced. That is not soft language.

What burned

About 21 square kilometers (roughly 8 square miles) around Spokane over the weekend, part of a wider state picture near 1,000 square kilometers burned. Fifteen major fires statewide. Smoke, chimneys standing alone, black columns over neighborhoods - the videos look like a different country. Roughly 12,000 utility customers lost power, most of them in Spokane.

Governor Bob Ferguson declared a state of emergency Saturday, banned most outdoor burning, and asked for federal help. The National Weather Service put up a particularly dangerous red-flag setup for the east side. Forecast: more dry, more wind. Firefighters hate that sentence.

Shelters and the long week ahead

The convention center took in hundreds. New mandatory orders hit parts of Stevens County near the Spokane River on Sunday. Officials say no deaths or injuries confirmed yet - and they say it carefully, because search work is early.

Larger fires still chew grassland in Idaho and Oregon cattle country. The West is short on crews and patience. August is Washington’s driest month on a normal year. This is not a normal year.

If you have people in Spokane County: watch official channels, do not drive into evacuation zones for photos, and treat air quality alerts as real. The fire does not care that it is a holiday weekend somewhere else.